First US state seeks to ban gender-affirming treatments for children — Analysis
Alabama refers to a recent abortion ruling in calling for banning puberty-blockers for minors
Alabama’s state has asked a federal court for protection of a ban on gender-affirming treatments for transgender youths. This is citing an earlier Supreme Court decision that permitted state governments to prevent abortions.
In a 76-page brief filed with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall insisted that a previous injunction on the state’s ban of transgender treatments should be overturned, since such care is not protected under the 14th amendment to the US Constitution as it is not “deeply rooted in the nation’s history and traditions.”
“The Legislature determined that transitioning treatments in particular are too risky to authorize, so it is those treatments Plaintiffs must show the Constitution protects,”The short version. “But no one –adult or child– has a right to transitioning treatments that is deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.”
The state’s argument closely resembles the reasoning behind the recent US supreme court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which removed federal abortion protections and placed the responsibility for legalizing or banning the procedure on individual states and their citizens.
The Supreme Court justices who ruled against the law were arguing that ending a pregnancy wasn’t a fundamental right, as it was not specifically mentioned in the US Constitution. “deeply rooted in this nation’s history and tradition.”
Marshall insists in the brief that Marshall is stating that it’s the Constitution that gives the power to decide that, not the courts or the medical interest groups. “sterilizing interventions”They are dangerous to minors. The State also has the right to prohibit or regulate such intervention for children “even if an adult wants the drugs for his child.”
Also, research about these issues was noted by the Attorney General. “novel interventions”They weren’t proven to be able to give lasting relief to gender-related distress in children. “What research does exist is already outdated – a remarkable fact given that the seminal study on transitioning children was published less than a decade ago and has not been replicated,”He concluded.
Marshall also called attention to the fact gender-related distress is now common “a tsunami”Clinics offer a variety of services, such as “‘transitioning’ treatments on kids are seeing their patient loads increase by thousands of percent,”It is important to note that the latest trend was “troubling.”
Alabama’s governor Kay Ivey signed into legislation a bill making it a felony for minors to receive gender-affirming therapies. She sought a 10-year sentence in prison and a $15,000 penalty for any person providing hormones, puberty blocksers or surgical procedures to transgender teenagers below the age of 19.
However that legislation was partially blocked one month later by a federal judge, who dismissed the state GOP leader’s claim that puberty blockers were “experimental,” and insisted that transitioning medications were “well-established, evidence-based treatments for gender dysphoria in minors” endorsed by “at least 22 major medical associations.”
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